What are the important events that happened on February 28? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
February 28: Facts & Myths About This Day
February 28 is the 59th day of the year 2020 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 307 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is February 15, 2020 – a Friday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 439,680 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘pentacontaenneagon’ day.
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Pisces is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Amethyst is the modern birthstone for this month. Bloodstone is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 350 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 2,625 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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February 28 Historical Events
- 1710 –In the Battle of Helsingborg, 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock.
- 1784 –John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.
- 1844 –A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing eight people, including two United States Cabinet members.
- 1870 –The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1885 –The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.)
- 1922 –The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
- 1980 –Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
- 1985 –The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
- 1986 –Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.
- 1991 –The first Gulf War ends.
Who were born on February 28?
- 1823 –Ernest Renan, French philosopher (d. 1892)
- 1893 –Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect (d. 1979)
- 1907 –Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon) (d. 1988)
- 1933 –Rein Taagepera, Estonian politician
- 1943 –Charles Bernstein, American composer
- 1944 –Win Aung, Burmese politician
- 1958 –Natalya Estemirova, Russian activist (d. 2009)
- 1973 –Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 –Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier
- 2007 –Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco
Who died on February 28?
- 1510 –Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer
- 1746 –Hermann von der Hardt, German historian (b. 1660)
- 1857 –André Dumont, Belgian geologist (b. 1809)
- 1916 –Henry James, American writer (b. 1843)
- 1936 –Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1866)
- 1963 –Rajendra Prasad, First President of India (b. 1884)
- 1978 –Eric Frank Russell, English author (b. 1905)
- 1986 –Laura Z. Hobson, American novelist (b. 1900)
- 1991 –Reinhard Bendix, German sociologist (b. 1916)
- 2006 –Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1920)
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